How do passionate sport fans feel? An examination using a quadripartite approach

The purpose of this research was to test if the ways sport fans felt while supporting their favourite teams – both in terms of typical feelings and changes in feelings over time – were associated with different combinations of harmonious passion (HP) and obsessive passion (OP) for being a sports fan. We conducted two studies in which fans reported how they typically felt while watching their favourite teams (Study 1, N = 430), and how they were feeling at three time points throughout an 8-month season (Study 2, N = 418). The results showed that the most adaptive fan outcomes (i.e., low negative feelings, high positive feelings and enjoyment) were associated with high HP combined with low OP. In contrast, the least adaptive fan outcomes (i.e., high negative feelings, low positive feelings and enjoyment) were associated with low HP combined with high OP. These results help us understand more about how the feelings of sports fans are shaped by combinations of HP and OP.